Warne wears his 501 well

Shane Warne became the first spinner in history to reach 500 wickets as Australia completed an astonishing victory by 197 runs in the first Test at Galle yesterday.

Warne took three upper-order wickets in three overs in the morning to unsettle the Sri Lanka innings. When he removed the captain Hashan Tillekeratne shortly after lunch, reaching the coveted Test landmark, the leg-spinner was mobbed by his team-mates.

Warne made it 501 with his fifth wicket, a tail-end victim, as Sri Lanka slid to 154 all out, victims of an outrageous turn-around after they had led by 161 on first innings.

Restored to Australia's side for his 108th cap at the first opportunity after his year's suspension for taking a diuretic, Warne repaid the selectors' faith with 10 wickets in the match. On this form he could overhaul Courtney Walsh's record of 519 by the end this three-Test series. The second Test begins in Kandy on Tuesday.

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Sri Lanka had slumped to 86 for five by lunch. Marvan Atapattu edged a bouncing leg break to slip, Tillakaratne Dilshan fell lbw, outwitted by a quicker, flatter delivery, and Mahela Jayawardene edged a leg break to Matthew Hayden at slip.

Andrew Symonds had a hand in Warne's 500th wicket, completing a simple catch at short midwicket. Sri Lanka lost four important wickets for 15 runs in 29 balls, and their innings eventually ended in 45.2 overs.

Muttiah Muralitharan took 10 wickets in the match at high cost to raise his career total to 496. In December he managed 11 in the match at this ground when England ground out a draw.

Ricky Ponting, the Australia's captain, praised Warne's return. "You couldn't have asked for anything more than that," he said. "He knew the ball was coming out of his hand pretty well and, as he said, he's as fit as he ever been. I think that showed up the way he held up throughout this game."

In New Zealand the referee Clive Lloyd ordered some repair work on the Hamilton pitch by the groundsman overnight to be undone before the third day of the first Test against South Africa.

New Zealand avoided the follow-on comfortably, with wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum emulating Michael Papps in this match by making a fifty on his debut.